NEW YORK (Sept. 18, 2012)--In a big night for boxing, Saturday night's SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast of "Knockout Kings" scored record ratings for its headlining fight between Canelo Alvarez and Josesito Lopez with over one million viewers. The blockbuster event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions in association with Goossen Tutor Promotions and Thompson Boxing Promotions, was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and featured an action-packed bout on the undercard between welterweights Marcos Maidana and Jesus Soto Karass, which helped garner the second-highest rating for a boxing telecast on the premium network since 2007.

Canelo did not disappoint with a dominating fifth-round technical knockout of Lopez in front of a sold-out crowd celebrating Mexican Independence Day weekend. In what is sure to be considered a Fight of the Year candidate, Maidana scored a technical knockout over Soto Karass in the eighth round.

RATING STATISTICS:

· Saturday's main event bout between Canelo and Lopez attracted over one million viewers (1.04 million) for the live telecast, surpassing the 2010 Jean Pascal vs. Bernard Hopkins event as the highest viewership for a bout on SHOWTIME since the network began tracking bout viewership.

· Saturday's average viewership ranked as the highest SHOWTIME boxing telecast of the year, and the second-highest average viewership on the network since 2007.

"We've seen steady increases in viewership for our marquee championship boxing events throughout the year," said Executive Vice President and General Manager for SHOWTIME Sports Stephen Espinoza. "It makes perfect sense that the budding star of Canelo Alvarez delivered our best performance thus far. We expect to build on this success with future Canelo fights and, of course, on the incredible lineup we have planned for SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING this fall."

Saturday's fights will replay tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME and is available anytime at SHOWTIME On Demand through October 15.